Explanation:
At first, the bright stars of the large
asterism
known as the (northern)
Winter Hexagon might be hard to pick out in this gorgeous
deep sky mosaic from December 2002.
But placing your cursor over the picture will reveal the hexagon's
outlines and the bright clusters and nebulae along
a stunning portion of
the Milky Way
opposite the
galactic center.
The celestial highlights include
M42
(aka the Great Nebula of Orion),
Orion's Horsehead nebula,
the Rosette and
Cone nebulae, and nearby star clusters
M45 (Pleiades) and Gemini's own
M35.
For now, this hexagon is sinking low in western
evening skies.